World Malaria Day

Today is World Malaria Day! Malaria is still the number one killer in Liberia. To commemorate World Malaria Day and to get the message out to the communities about how to prevent malaria, EQUIP Liberia has teamed up with some local artists to record a song highlighting some basic ways to fight this disease. The song was sponsored by USAID President Malaria Initiative (PMI) : from the American People." Check it out below!

Update on Dave's Father

Here is an update on Dave's father from Jan, Dave's sister:

Hello All,

Today brings good news! Dad's surgery was very long (61/2 hours) but went well. He was able to come off the breathing tube and be moved back up to the 5th floor on Neurology ICU at 4am. I spoke with his nurse this morning who says he wakes up easily, is able to speak in a raspy voice, knows who and where he is and the reason he is there. Knowing why he is there is a big change from the day before surgery and reason to say Hallelluliah! They are also starting to remove one or two of the many tubes so he will be a bit more comfortable. We have been told that he is at risk for a number of complications, especially over the next week so will continue to pray for a full recovery.

Dave, Matthew and Rebecca arrived safely last night and Dave has already been able to see Dad.

He continues to need lots of rest and low stimulation. I suggest we keep visits very brief over the next few days.

Please forward this or call anyone not on the list who does not use email. We love our support network and know that prayer is powerful!

Love,

Jan

Prayer for Dave's Father

Dear friends,
On April 13th Dave's father was taken to Vancouver General Hospital for a brain aneurysm. Fortunately it was a slow bleed, therefore immediately on arrival he had surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Early this morning he went for a second surgery to clip the aneurysm. The surgery took six hours and was more complicated then expected, but amazingly he is among the one third that have survived to this point. The next eight days are crucial and we call upon your prayers for our great father and grandfather Garth.

Dave left Liberia within six hours of hearing the news. Amazingly he found a ticket that was half the usual price; therefore he took Matthew and Rebecca with him to be with their grandfather. For those who are in Vancouver, Dave can be contacted at (604)-876-4694. Thanks again for your prayers and support,

Dave & Audry

Urchin Adventures

The three youngest members of the Waines family are back from boarding school in Senegal for the month and Liberia is a brighter, more adventure filled place once again.

The other day Rebecca and Matthew along with volunteers Sarah and Christoph decided to swim out and explore a rarely exposed reef just off the beach. After some time of checking out the interesting coral, sea life, and even an eel, the tide started to rise. They were almost back into the water when Matthew slipped and fell, his hands and feet landing right into a cluster of spiky sea urchins!

Poor Matthew had to be carried all the way back home because it hurt to much to walk. Fortunately Sarah is an emergency room nurse. Unfortunately this meant that she had to spend the next two hours using tweezers to carefully pull out over 90 urchin spikes from Matthew's feet and hands, while Audry kept the patient happy with a steady stream of snack food.

Matthew soaking his urchin infested hands

Four CHA Graduation Ceremonies

This last week EQUIP celebrated the graduation of over ninety Community Health Ambassadors in four different ceremonies.

The Community Health Ambassadors (or CHA's) have always been at the core of the work here. They are volunteers that go through a fifteen month long training program, attending workshops and trainings. They learn about good hygiene practices and simple ways to prevent disease. Most importantly, they learn how to impart this knowledge back to their communities through health talks and powerful dramas in their local dialects. We have now trained over 6000 CHA's and that number keeps growing.

Three of the graduations were in Nimba County, in the towns of Garplay, Karnplay, and Bonlay. The fourth occured in Garmu, in Bong County. All four events were filled with festivities. The graduates performed dramas and songs highlighting simple ways to prevent diseases and speaking out against harmful cultural beliefs. Many local officials and chiefs were there to accept the CHA graduates in their new role as role models and ambassadors of preventive health care.

CHA graduates in Bonlay march and sing on their way to the ceremony.

Two CHA graduates perform a drama while an audience of school children look on.

The new CHA graduates of Garplay District in Nimba.

A Visit With the President

A few weeks ago, key members of the EQUIP Liberia staff were invited to an audience with the president of Liberia. Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf thanked us on our ten years of service to the country of Liberia. We were able to show her our video and had the joy of sharing with her about all our various projects.
From left to right: Audry, Rachael, Roland, David, President Johnson Sirleaf, Ruth, Alice, Joseph, and Amy.

God Provides A Miracle On The Road

Sarah, a volunteer nurse from Alaska has been acting as our medical coordinator in Nimba for the past 4 months. Her heart for God is astounding. She is so compassionate and dedicated to her work in building the capacity of the clinic staff, encouraging them to pray and follow God passionately; she has small youth support groups etc. She was traveling from one of our remote clinics, the new one (we just built with BPRM funds) in Gblarlay, carrying a sick child with an enlarged spleen and blood in her urine, to Ganta hospital with her mother, about a three hour trip.

Visibility is often limited as cars and trucks pass on the dusty roads. She had just passed Grai (an hour from Gblarlay) and was approaching a small bridge when through the dust they noticed an overturned van with people crawling out of the windows. Her adrenalin peaked and she felt ill equipped wondering what she would find and how she could help. She took a deep breath of the Holy Spirit and prayed. Altogether 11 people came out of the van, including one baby. She wanted to do triage (a first-aid procedure for emergencies) but the group was too big. Some were staggering in shock. She gathered them all together in a circle and announced, “I want us all first to pray and thank God that He has spared our lives.” So everyone bowed and prayed before their Maker. She then had them each do a self-assessment, just like she was leading a fitness club. "I want everyone to raise their hands, wiggle your fingers, move your feet, how is your head, push on your stomach, (considering internal bleeding), any pain? "etc...

There were two people that obviously needed help. One had had all the luggage land on his face when they flipped and he had a large cut across his face and was not well oriented. She suspected a concussion. Another had his hand hanging limply and arm badly scraped His wrist appeared broken. She found a piece of cardboard in the car and gently laid his hand that was swelling up before her eyes into the "splint" and found her trousers in her bag and used it to wrap his arm. She told him, "That arm appears to be broken, we need to pray that God will heal it." In her mind she saw all the poorly managed broken bones of a few of our staff in recent times...Liberia is not the place to break a bone!. She prayed with him, "Lord, we ask you to heal this arm, let the bone heal in your mercy, amen." It happened that this man goes to our church in Monrovia. When they got back in the car, she repeated her concern for his arm and they prayed once again, believing for his healing. After an hour trip to Saclepea Health Center, they carefully unwrapped his arm and there were no scrapes, no swelling and full function...a miracle! God is so good!

Equip Opens New Clinic in Gblarlay

On the 22nd of January EquipLiberia celebrated the opening of a new clinic in Gblarlay, a remote but lively town in Nimba County. The clinic provides health care for an area with a population of over 25,000 people and sees 700 patients a month. Since Gblarlay is located within miles of the border with Ivory Coast, the clinic also sees a large amount of Ivorians desperate for good medical care.

The celebrations started the evening before the event as the air of festivity in the town erupted into dancing and drumming, which went on all night. In the morning the fattened cow was killed and everyone gathered around the cooking pots preparing okra, palm butter, and of course, rice for the ceremony.

The ceremony was held just outside the clinic under a vast canopy of palm branches. Representatives from Equip, the local community, the Ivorians, the government, and the County Health Team all spoke. Together they told a story of a town in need and group of people who were willing to sacrifice so much to make this new clinic possible. The speeches were spaced out by different performances from local cultural groups.

After the program was completed and the ribbon across the door was cut, the food was served. All in all it was a festive celebration of a new clinic that will bring good quality, primary health care to a large area, saving thousands of lives.

Here are some photos from the event:

The children of Gblarlay

The cooks preparing the food

Two of the cultural dancers

Winter Newsletter

The newsletter for Christmas 2008 is now available to read at the Equip website. Just click here!